Friends and family gathered at a vigil Wednesday evening on South Main Street to memorialize John Marczak, who died last week as a result of injuries sustained in a hit and run crash, and town leaders shared some updates on the progress of the Vision Zero Action Plan.

By Ronni Newton

The West Hartford community, and friends and family of John Marczak, gathered along South Main Street early Wednesday evening, near the location where early in the morning of June 7, the 44-year-old Plainville resident and father of two was struck by the driver of a southbound vehicle who then fled the scene. The extensive injuries Marczak sustained ultimately proved fatal, and he passed away at 4:50 a.m. on June 10.

Bike West Hartford organized the vigil for Marczak, as it has for the victims of other recent fatal pedestrian crashes in town – including just two weeks ago, a little more than a mile away. On June 4, a vigil was held at the intersection of South Main Street and New Britain Avenue to memorialize the life of Stephen Mendelsohn, 63, of New Britain, who was fatally struck on June 1.

Board member Katie Lance said the organization “is a local, volunteer-led nonprofit advocating for safer streets for everyone – whether you bike, walk, or roll.”

While many of the details related to this particular incident are not known or not public at this time, Lance said that Bike West Hartford recognizes “that any fatality or serious injury on our roadways is one too many.” Before calling for a moment of silence, Lance noted that as a public symbol, Bike West Hartford has placed flowers, a memorial heart and a pair of white sneakers – known as “ghost shoes” – on a utility pole near the scene of the crash. Others have added candles and a photo of Marczak to the memorial.

Marczak’s mother, Julia LaFlamme, attended and spoke at the vigil. “He was just such a happy-go-lucky person,” she said, noting that he wouldn’t want anybody to be upset. “You only go around once, he used to tell me. … Don’t be angry, there’s nothing you can do. Pray for his girls because that was his whole life,” LaFlamme said. Marczak had two daughters, ages 14 and 16, she said, who were his whole reason for living.

One longtime friend said Marczak was “a really good friend and a wonderful IT person. I love John. He was the most honest, good soul. … We have lost a really good soul and a good father, a good son, just a really good person.”

Lance said while she didn’t know Marczak personally, she learned reading articles about him and from the GoFundMe campaign launched by his friend Stephanie Toohey that he was generous, fun-loving, and devoted to his family. “John was the kindest, funniest, and most generous person you’d ever meet. The type of person who’d give you the shirt off his back without a second thought,” Lance said, quoting the GoFundMe. “His loss is immeasurable, not just to those who knew him personally, but to our wider community that continues to grapple with the devastating consequences of unsafe streets.”

“We’ve committed to Vision Zero as a town but these things keep happening on our roads that we know are dangerous,” said Lance.

Police responded to the incident involving Marczak just after 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 7.

Another motorist who saw Marczak unresponsive in the roadway in the area of 202 South Main Street and stopped and called 911. Responders immediately treated Marczak at the scene for injuries that were described as “serious,” and transported to an area hospital. He had sustained several broken bones, suffered internal bleeding, and underwent emergency surgery before passing away several days later.

There was evidence that a motor vehicle collision had occurred and police immediately launched an investigation and were able to obtain surveillance footage. They located the suspect vehicle – which was hidden under a tarp at another location – and the driver, who was arrested later on Saturday, June 7 via warrant, Capt. Aaron Vafiades said last week.

Juan Pablo Novoa, 22, of Cromwell, has been charged with evading responsibility with serious physical injury, windshield, obstructing view, and tampering with physical evidence. According to online court records, he was released from custody after posting $500,000 surety bond and is scheduled to enter a plea in Hartford Superior Court on July 14.

Dan Stadtlander, lived on the stretch of South Main Street where this incident occurred for more than 20 years, and still owns the house that is now occupied by his son. There used to be a lot of crashes in the area, he told reporters. “I’ve had one car explode on my front lawn, put the engine block through the roof,” he said, but noted that measures taken by the town with reflective arrows have cut down on the number of northbound crashes on the curve.

While he doesn’t know the details of how or why Marczak came to be in the roadway in that area around 2 a.m. on June 7 – and police have not released details of the crash since it remains under active investigation – Stadtlander said he’d love to see the town fill in the sidewalk gap that exists along the west side of South Main. Currently the sidewalk ends on the northern entrance to Rockledge Golf Club, and picks up again at Pebblebrook Road, north of where Marczak was struck.

Stadtlander said statements attributed to Novoa, and reported by CT Insider reporters who attended the arraignment, that quote Novoa as telling a West Hartford Police officer, “I’m on the road, I’m a vehicle, I have the legal right to be on the road,” were “appalling” and callous. Now it’s up to the legal system, he said.

Mayor Shari Cantor, Town Manager Rick Ledwith, Director of Community Services Duane Martin, and Police Chief Vernon Riddick, all attended the vigil and spoke with reporters about the measures the town is taking to implement the short- and long-term goals of the Vision Zero Action Plan.

Earlier this year the Town Council received its first Vision Zero Annual Report.

“We’ve been working on it,” Cantor said. “We did almost 80 projects, we have another 70 to 80 coming, and then we will keep going.” The town has received about $5 million in grants after developing a Vision Zero Action Plan, she said, and although one of the largest grants was stuck in limbo it’s now in the process of being approved.

“There is a lot that is going to be happening in the next 6 to 12 months, and a really critical component is the speed cameras,” which were approved for use in the state by the legislature in the 2024 session and approved this year by the West Hartford Town Council, Cantor said. “There are going to be a lot of changes in West Hartford,” she said, including road design changes.

One of the challenges that does remain in terms of education, Cantor noted, is that the majority of the drivers involved in fatal crashes are not from West Hartford, nor in some cases are the pedestrians. “Education, regionally, I think is a very important component that we need to talk about – changing driver behavior regionally, not just in one municipality or another municipality.” She said there are issues in every single town.

Martin said many of the Vision Zero quick-build safety measures all over town – including curb extension on Sedgwick Road and measures on South Quaker and Park Road – are scheduled to be implemented in the next few weeks. “Everything is under consideration, from speed limits, to traffic calming, to cameras. It’s all happening at the same time, and eventually the trouble areas will dissolve,” he said. “It just can’t, unfortunately, happen overnight.” Police and Public Works are all involved in creating the solutions.

Martin said the materials have been received, and as an example at Quaker and Kingswood they recently tested a bump-out design to ensure a plow truck. In the Center, where construction is underway at the intersection of Ellsworth and LaSalle, a bump-out forces drivers to take the turn more slowly. “Little by little, these things are going to be happening all over town,” Martin said.

He said the education piece is in the process of being ramped up as well, including instructions on how to operate and navigate new equipment and roadway updates.

Ledwith said once Public Works gets going, they’re able to implement the quick-builds much more efficiently.

“We need to change the culture. Speed cameras, enforcement, everything that we are doing will start to change that culture – will change the driver mentality, hopefully slow people down, stop looking at their phones,” said Ledwith said.

Bike West Hartford Board members Jason Wang, Jack Dougherty, Tracey Frankel, and Ethan Frankel, along with Lance recalled the names of other pedestrians who have been struck and killed in West Hartford in the past three years. They include Stephen Mendelsohn, 63, of New Britain, who was fatally struck on New Britain Avenue near the intersection with South Main Street on June 1.

Anne Rapkin, 74, and her dog, were struck and killed on Nov. 27, 2024, while walking on Sedgwick Road.

On Nov. 8, 2024, 87-year-old Patricia Brulotte was struck by a car on Oakwood Avenue near St. James Street. She died the following day as a result of those injuries. In January, 80-year-old David Goldfarb  sustained fatal injuries when he was crossing Albany Avenue near Mohegan Drive.

There were no fatal crashes in 2023, but names of three pedestrians who were struck and killed in 2022 were also read aloud: Carlos Garlaza, 60, killed by a driver while assisting a person at the corner of Mohegan Drive and Carlyle Road on Dec. 21; Eugenia Yurovsky, 89, killed in a hit and run while walking across Boulevard at Whiting Lane on Dec. 20; and Bob Oneal, age 61, killed by a driver while standing on the sidewalk on the corner of Farmington Avenue and Main Street on June 3.

“We call on everyone to move with us – from this moment of remembrance to a moment of action,” Lance said, urging for traffic safety to be prioritized as a public health issue, to “affirm that every life matters,” and prevent future crashes like this.

Plans to convene a Vision Zero task force were announced on Christmas Day in 2022, just hours after a two-car crash on Simsbury Road at 6:49 a.m. resulted in the death of three occupants of the vehicles despite lifesaving efforts by emergency responders. In just over a week during December 2022, a total of five people had lost their lives as a result of several unrelated motor vehicle collisions in West Hartford, and another person was seriously injured. An incident in June 2022 had resulted in the death of a pedestrian in West Hartford Center, bringing the total number of traffic fatalities in West Hartford for 2022 to six.

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